1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to merchandise and/or product display systems and, in particular, to reconfigurable product display systems.
2. Description of Related Art
In a retail environment, consumers wish to quickly locate a product that they desire from among other products in a display and to easily remove the desired product from the display. Retailers and consumers face several challenges regarding the display of products, because so many products resemble other products even though they are not substitutes for each other. In addition, retailers need to easily arrange and rearrange the products on the display for aesthetic purposes and/or to facilitate restocking the display.
Typically, a product package, for example, a package for a battery, has information on it to specifically identify the product contained therein. As discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,444, to Jacobus, et al., granted Jun. 12, 2001, entitled “Peggable Reclosable Battery Package,” the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, there are a number of battery types that are identified by voltage, current, and dimensional criteria. Most common among these battery types are round cell batteries, readily available sources of direct current packaged in cylindrical canisters. The round cells have been given letter designations and range, in physical size, from AAAA, AAA, AA, and C to D. Also commonly used in conventional consumer products is the non-cylindrical 9V battery. Battery manufacturers label their products and product packages according to the standard sizes AA, AAA, etc., and often design battery packages for preferred display systems. The standardization of battery sizes and properties allow consumers an ability to replace the batteries in their electronic devices from the stocks of thousands of retailers throughout the world, for example, convenience stores, hardware stores and electronic shops. However, while the various kinds of batteries are often similarly packaged, they are not interchangeable. Therefore, consumers must take care to precisely select the battery that they need.
When a retailer offers a variety of batteries for sale, it is standard marketing practice to group the various types of batteries together in one area of a display. Retailers face an ongoing challenge to design battery displays that allow consumers to quickly find the batteries that they need despite the similarity of battery packages of various size batteries. Such challenges are presented in the sale of other product lines that include similarly packaged but non-interchangeable products.
In general, a retailer uses a product display system that includes a product support device that has multiple locations for different products. The product display system also includes product designators (placard devices) to label the locations on the product support device where particular products are to be displayed, and to provide information about those products. The placard device includes a rectangular placard for displaying product information. Typically, the product information displayed on the rectangular placard includes, for example, the product's commercial name, UPC/SKU code, price, size, etc. Such information is used by retailers and consumers for purposes of stocking the display system, taking inventory and for providing pricing and other information to consumers. Consumers use product information on placards to locate desired products on the display system and to learn the retailer's price. To avoid customer confusion, errors in inventory control and other vagaries of retail sales practice, it is necessary for retailers to carefully compare the product information on a product package with the information on the placard to assure that the placard matches the product associated therewith. After a product display is initially set up, it may be necessary or desirable to replenish, rearrange, or move products in the display. During such activities, it is important to ensure that the placard devices and products associated therewith remain properly associated with each other. Retailers often prefer reconfigurable product display systems, that is, systems that include product support devices that are configured in various ways to permit variation in the placement of products thereon.
A basic type of reconfigurable product support device is a shelving system in which several shelves are supported on a frame. In typical use, a retailer places product designators on a shelf to label portions of the shelf for specific products. A shelving system may be reconfigurable in that it may allow for vertical adjustment of the shelves, so that the retailer may raise and/or lower one or more shelves on the frame to accommodate products of various sizes. A placard device for a shelving system may include a placard and an attachment device on which the placard is mounted. The attachment device may be adhesive, or a clip or other structure, for mounting at or on an outward edge of the shelf. For example, a conventional front-fence type placard device 130 for a shelf 132 is shown in FIG. 1A. The placard device 130 has an L-shaped configuration that includes a base 130a by which the placard device 130 is attached to the front of the shelf 132 by a screw 134. The placard device 130 has an upward-extending placard 130b for displaying product information.
Shelving systems offer limited options for product display and display rearrangement. For example, a shelf often holds more that one type of product, and often holds products of various sizes. Therefore, the shelf must be positioned to accommodate the largest (tallest) item on the shelf. As such, there is a significant amount of “dead” space above the other products on shelf. In addition, it is typically necessary to completely clear the shelf before it can be moved, which makes moving the shelf a tedious and/or time-consuming. Moreover, the number of positions provided on a shelving frame is limited. Shelving systems have other drawbacks as well. For example, as products are removed from the shelves by customers, the visual appeal of the product display declines. In some instances, customers remove and then replace products on the shelf, but place the products near the wrong product designators, making the display confusing for others as well as visually unappealing.
Another type of reconfigurable product display system that is known in the art is a pegboard display system, which includes, as the product support device, a perforated board (sometimes referred to as a “pegboard”) and pegs that are moveably mountable on the board. In use, products are suspended on the pegs. Pegboard display systems offer an improvement relative to shelving systems because the number of possible positions for a peg on the board is generally much greater in both horizontal and vertical directions than the number of possible positions for an adjustable shelf on a frame. Therefore, for a given vertical area of display, a pegboard display system offers the possibility of permitting a greater number of horizontal rows of products than a shelving system. In addition, there is much greater flexibility in creating a display for products of various sizes, so the retailer can easily avoid creating a display that has dead space in it.
Placard devices for product information are also used with pegboard display systems. For example, a placard device may include a placard mounted on a boom member, where the boom member is mountable on the pegboard above the product peg to provide information to the consumer and/or retailer about the product on the peg. A prior art peg and placard device combination 100 is shown in FIG. 1B. The combination 100 includes a standard product peg 110 having a hook end 112 for engaging perforations in a pegboard and an arm 114 extending from the hook end 112 for supporting products hanging thereon. A placard device 120 is removably mountable near the peg 110 so that the placard device 120 can be associated with the peg 110 and with any products on the peg 110. For a placard device 120 to be associated with the peg 110, the placard device 120 is the closest placard to the end of the peg 110. In this case, the placard device 120 includes a foot portion 122 that is configured to engage the hook end 112 of the peg 110 and a rectangular placard 124 on a distal end of a boom member 126. The boom member 126 extends from the foot portion 122 towards the end of the product peg 110. In this way, the placard device 120 is positioned so that as a product is slid past the end of the peg 110, the product information on the placard 124 can be compared to the product information on the product package or to the product itself. Similar placards are used with other type of product displays, such as shelves.
One battery package for use in a pegboard display system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,350, to Ward, granted Oct. 20, 1998, entitled “Paperboard Security Battery Package,” the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Typically, with the use of such packages, batteries of a common type are displayed in proximity to each other. For example, all the “AA” batteries stocked on a product display are typically on a common peg and are adjacent to packages “AA” batteries on another peg, such as in a single column or row of pegs.
As described above, display systems having associated product information placards are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,405, to Virte, et al., granted Aug. 10, 1982, entitled “Universal Mountable Display Tray,” discloses a display tray for consumer products having a plurality of pivotable support means for securing the tray on various width slats and various “peg-board” type support walls. Space for a small rectangular information placard is provided at the end of the tray.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,444, to Jacobus, et al., granted Jun. 12, 2001, entitled “Peggable Reclosable Battery Package,” discloses a re-closable battery package that is designed for display on a pegboard.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,131,543, to Mason, granted Nov. 7, 2006, entitled “Display Device,” discloses a display device for modular merchandise units. The display device provides a series of shelves in a housing on a substantially flat base, with at least one wheel connected to the base. The shelves are permanently positioned in the housing.
Generally speaking, the rectangular prior art placards include so much information that consumers have difficulty in finding pertinent items of information, such as the product species, from among all other product information on the placard, to enable them to precisely select the product that they want.
The inventors have discovered that conventional product display systems do not adequately exhibit product information. For example, a need exists for a more visually apparent way of exhibiting product information and, in particular, distinctive features and/or characteristics of the products within the display. Retailers also need display systems that are reconfigurable and easy to use.
Based on the foregoing, it is the general object of this invention to provide a product display system that improves upon, or overcomes the problems and drawbacks of, prior art product display systems.